Thursday, 8 July 2010
The Rape of Virgin Munchindun
Title:
The Rape of Virgin Munchindun
Sub Title:
Pen Name:
Michael Gillespie
Book ID:
66828
Author ID:
456041
Book Status
Sales Info
About the Book, About the Author, Free Preview
The Rape of Virgin Munchindun
Sub Title:
Pen Name:
Michael Gillespie
Book ID:
66828
Author ID:
456041
Book Status
Sales Info
About the Book, About the Author, Free Preview
The Rape of Virgin Munchindun
Munchindun is a fictional district in Co Tyrone N. Ireland
This topical novel deals with th e difficulties that exist between the communities in N. Ireland at the present time in a new interesting way
The novel tells a fascinating love story with a difference.
The book has been given a positive write up in the press.
The book--- THE RAPE OF VIRGIN MUNCHINDUN--- is available from Amazon Books on the Internet or through any book store.
Michael Gillespie Author
This topical novel deals with th e difficulties that exist between the communities in N. Ireland at the present time in a new interesting way
The novel tells a fascinating love story with a difference.
The book has been given a positive write up in the press.
The book--- THE RAPE OF VIRGIN MUNCHINDUN--- is available from Amazon Books on the Internet or through any book store.
Michael Gillespie Author
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Bloody Sunday and a Perceived Constitution
Bloody Sunday, and a Perceived Constitution.
Nothing in this article gainsays the unjust and unjustifiable murder of innocent civilians and the enormity of that crime carried out by the Parachute Regiment in Derry on Bloody Sunday. This article attempts to explore how the U.K. constitution is perceived in Northern Ireland. In what follows perception is used in the dictionary sense of: -
“ The awareness of the external world or some aspect of it through physical sensations and the interpretation of these by the mind.”
The primary and ultimate role of the president of the U.S.A. is to support maintain and defend the constitution ultimately with the army. Apart from 9/11 the American constitution isn’t under threat. Here in N. Ireland the situation is different because the constitution is perceived to be under threat and has to be supported maintained and defended by the British Army and by an armed P.S.N.I.
Protestant Loyalist Ireland perceives Catholic Nationalist Ireland as a constitutional threat and perceives Catholic Nationalist Ireland as ambivalent about U.K. constitution and cannot be trusted. This is nothing new but stretches back in History.
Protestant Loyalist Ireland perceived Home Rule as Rome Rule. Home Rule in the fledgling Free State proved to be Rome Rule. This is evidenced in the Eucharistic Congress 1932 with a triumphant parading of Catholicism in Ireland. There was the enforced resignation of Dr Noel Browne by the Catholic hierarchy over Dr Brown’s mother and child scheme in 1948. There is also the case of Catholic Clergy intolerance of Protestant freedom of conscience of Sheila Cloney in Fethard on Sea over Ne Temere in 1957. In current times there was the turning of the blind eye by Dail Eireann to clerical child abuse in state institutions. So the perception by Protestant Loyalist Ireland that Home Rule would be something other than U.K. constitutional rule wasn’t wide of the mark.
The mistrust of Catholic Nationalists by Protestant Loyalists blighted the Civil Rights Association. Protestants Loyalists perceived the hidden agenda of Nationalists in the C.R.A. was to put them into a hated Republic by stealth. Ian Paisley captured this mistrust by calling the C.R.A. the I.R.A. and this misnomer was not without substance. The initial aims o f John Hume and the C.R.A. was to win equality of citizen ship for Catholics and this aim was laudable and needed. However the C.R.A. was infiltrated by Republicans whose constitutional agenda stretched far beyond the winning of equality for Catholics in N. Ireland to the over throw of the state’s constitution by violence. In Lord Saville’s report ~Republicans were a part of the Bloody Sunday march in the violent presence of Martin Magennis allegedly with a machine gun. So Ian Paisley’s naming of the C.R.A. as the I.R.A. has substance and Loyalist mistrust justified.
In N. Ireland the constitution is ultimately imposed by military might. This was the constitutional role adopted by the Paras on Bloody Sunday. The regiment perceived the marchers as a constitutional threat and a gut reaction of military fire- power followed. That doesn’t condone the murder of innocent people but illustrates the amorality and constitutional degeneracy of the soldiers involved. In this action the Paras drove the constitutional nationalism of John Hume’s C.R.A. off the streets of Derry and drove violent Republicanism onto the streets in strength. In a counter campaign of terror the Provisional I.R.A. attempted to impose a Republic on Loyalist Ireland by brute force and that campaign was as amoral, constitutionally degenerate and futile as was the murderous assault on marchers by the Paras.
U.K. constitution being unwritten relies on the ground on perception for interpretation. What Ireland now needs is a written constitution which goes beyond perception but is interpreted rationally. The written Republican constitution of the 26 counties won’t do as Republicanism is rejected by Loyalist Ireland whose historic psyche is Loyalty to the Crown, the free expression of which is a human right. By the same token the unwritten militarily imposed U.K. constitution is rejected by the vast majority of the people of Ireland. In the thesis put forward in Slugger the rejected U.K. constitution needs to be replaced with a Federal Kingdom Constitution expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act. This is a position central to U.K. constitution and Republicanism. This Act can be made as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry. The Government of Ireland Act partitioned the Island only the National Government of Ireland Act can unite it.
Protestant Church men have called on the people of Derry to unite but that begs the question ---Unite as what? As Union Jack Unionists? Surely not. As Irish Republicans? No way will they do that. But the people of Derry could unite under the National Government of Ireland Act. That is possible feasible and doable.
Michael Gillespie
Nothing in this article gainsays the unjust and unjustifiable murder of innocent civilians and the enormity of that crime carried out by the Parachute Regiment in Derry on Bloody Sunday. This article attempts to explore how the U.K. constitution is perceived in Northern Ireland. In what follows perception is used in the dictionary sense of: -
“ The awareness of the external world or some aspect of it through physical sensations and the interpretation of these by the mind.”
The primary and ultimate role of the president of the U.S.A. is to support maintain and defend the constitution ultimately with the army. Apart from 9/11 the American constitution isn’t under threat. Here in N. Ireland the situation is different because the constitution is perceived to be under threat and has to be supported maintained and defended by the British Army and by an armed P.S.N.I.
Protestant Loyalist Ireland perceives Catholic Nationalist Ireland as a constitutional threat and perceives Catholic Nationalist Ireland as ambivalent about U.K. constitution and cannot be trusted. This is nothing new but stretches back in History.
Protestant Loyalist Ireland perceived Home Rule as Rome Rule. Home Rule in the fledgling Free State proved to be Rome Rule. This is evidenced in the Eucharistic Congress 1932 with a triumphant parading of Catholicism in Ireland. There was the enforced resignation of Dr Noel Browne by the Catholic hierarchy over Dr Brown’s mother and child scheme in 1948. There is also the case of Catholic Clergy intolerance of Protestant freedom of conscience of Sheila Cloney in Fethard on Sea over Ne Temere in 1957. In current times there was the turning of the blind eye by Dail Eireann to clerical child abuse in state institutions. So the perception by Protestant Loyalist Ireland that Home Rule would be something other than U.K. constitutional rule wasn’t wide of the mark.
The mistrust of Catholic Nationalists by Protestant Loyalists blighted the Civil Rights Association. Protestants Loyalists perceived the hidden agenda of Nationalists in the C.R.A. was to put them into a hated Republic by stealth. Ian Paisley captured this mistrust by calling the C.R.A. the I.R.A. and this misnomer was not without substance. The initial aims o f John Hume and the C.R.A. was to win equality of citizen ship for Catholics and this aim was laudable and needed. However the C.R.A. was infiltrated by Republicans whose constitutional agenda stretched far beyond the winning of equality for Catholics in N. Ireland to the over throw of the state’s constitution by violence. In Lord Saville’s report ~Republicans were a part of the Bloody Sunday march in the violent presence of Martin Magennis allegedly with a machine gun. So Ian Paisley’s naming of the C.R.A. as the I.R.A. has substance and Loyalist mistrust justified.
In N. Ireland the constitution is ultimately imposed by military might. This was the constitutional role adopted by the Paras on Bloody Sunday. The regiment perceived the marchers as a constitutional threat and a gut reaction of military fire- power followed. That doesn’t condone the murder of innocent people but illustrates the amorality and constitutional degeneracy of the soldiers involved. In this action the Paras drove the constitutional nationalism of John Hume’s C.R.A. off the streets of Derry and drove violent Republicanism onto the streets in strength. In a counter campaign of terror the Provisional I.R.A. attempted to impose a Republic on Loyalist Ireland by brute force and that campaign was as amoral, constitutionally degenerate and futile as was the murderous assault on marchers by the Paras.
U.K. constitution being unwritten relies on the ground on perception for interpretation. What Ireland now needs is a written constitution which goes beyond perception but is interpreted rationally. The written Republican constitution of the 26 counties won’t do as Republicanism is rejected by Loyalist Ireland whose historic psyche is Loyalty to the Crown, the free expression of which is a human right. By the same token the unwritten militarily imposed U.K. constitution is rejected by the vast majority of the people of Ireland. In the thesis put forward in Slugger the rejected U.K. constitution needs to be replaced with a Federal Kingdom Constitution expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act. This is a position central to U.K. constitution and Republicanism. This Act can be made as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry. The Government of Ireland Act partitioned the Island only the National Government of Ireland Act can unite it.
Protestant Church men have called on the people of Derry to unite but that begs the question ---Unite as what? As Union Jack Unionists? Surely not. As Irish Republicans? No way will they do that. But the people of Derry could unite under the National Government of Ireland Act. That is possible feasible and doable.
Michael Gillespie
Saturday, 21 November 2009
A Federal Kingdom Fits the Bill
A Federal Kingdom Fits the Bill
Fair Deal writing about the D.U.P. 20TH Nov writes: -
“ It will seek to shape the union by campaigning for a new constitutional settlement based on our cherished values of equal citizenship- a Federal U.K. with a written constitution and a Bill of Rights.”
What Fair Deal has in mind in a Federal U.K. is the constitutional set up in the Federal United States of America. In the United States there is a powerful central government ruling over subservient states with residual governmental powers. But would that model satisfy the people here. In Fair Deal’s Federal U.K. a powerful central government at Westminster would rule over a subservient N. Ireland with only residual powers. In that model the flag in N. Ireland would be the Union Jack but would that flag be acceptable on the Falls and Bogside? Again the anthem would b e –God Save the Queen—but would that be sung in the Nationalist community? In Fair Deal’s Federal U.K. the people would still be divided along sectarian lines.
There is however another Federal model. That is where a treaty or compact is entered into between two equal states. This model would yield a Federal Kingdom for these islands. The canvass to be worked on in this context is an all Ireland canvass. In this there would be a dual constitution, an unwritten constitution for G.B. as of now with a new written constitution for the nation of Ireland expressed in The National Government of Ireland Act. The Act would give among much else a flag, an anthem, a passport and a statement of rights as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry in a non-sectarian Ireland. Fair Deal should think again.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Fair Deal writing about the D.U.P. 20TH Nov writes: -
“ It will seek to shape the union by campaigning for a new constitutional settlement based on our cherished values of equal citizenship- a Federal U.K. with a written constitution and a Bill of Rights.”
What Fair Deal has in mind in a Federal U.K. is the constitutional set up in the Federal United States of America. In the United States there is a powerful central government ruling over subservient states with residual governmental powers. But would that model satisfy the people here. In Fair Deal’s Federal U.K. a powerful central government at Westminster would rule over a subservient N. Ireland with only residual powers. In that model the flag in N. Ireland would be the Union Jack but would that flag be acceptable on the Falls and Bogside? Again the anthem would b e –God Save the Queen—but would that be sung in the Nationalist community? In Fair Deal’s Federal U.K. the people would still be divided along sectarian lines.
There is however another Federal model. That is where a treaty or compact is entered into between two equal states. This model would yield a Federal Kingdom for these islands. The canvass to be worked on in this context is an all Ireland canvass. In this there would be a dual constitution, an unwritten constitution for G.B. as of now with a new written constitution for the nation of Ireland expressed in The National Government of Ireland Act. The Act would give among much else a flag, an anthem, a passport and a statement of rights as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry in a non-sectarian Ireland. Fair Deal should think again.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Racism in These Islands
Racism in These Islands.
It could be that the British National Party has touched a raw nerve in the body of British and Irish politics. It is reckoned that the B.N.P. could obtain a vote of 22% in a British election. This issue has to do with a wide spread concern in working class areas due to an influx of new wave immigrants into their midst. There are those in Belfast and Derry who have been out protesting about the racism of the B.N.P. Such protestors should look at racism on their own Ulster doorstep first.
Is such fear of new wave immigration real or imaginary? The reality of the concern can be paralleled at home in Irish history. In the 16th century a people of different race, culture, religion and language came to Ireland in the plantation of Ulster. The whirlwind of this was reaped in the 20th century in a partitioned island, over 30 years of intercommunal (racist) violence and in the racist sectarian ghettoes of Belfast and Derry and elsewhere. This is the historic fruit of introducing an immigrant population into a country. But Irish history has another parallel. The Normans came to Ireland uninvited and settled here but in that case all was well in the long term because the Normans integrated with the native Irish and became “more Irish than the Irish themselves” This immigration was to the benefit of Ireland.
If the new wave immigrants to G.B. and Ireland become as British as the British themselves and as Irish as the Irish themselves then the migration will be of benefit to all. It would seem that the majority of new wave immigrants see themselves in that way. If however there are some who wish to live apart and separate from the indigenous people, as the Ulster planters opted to do, for the future health of these islands such people should be excluded.
Michael Gillespie. Derry
It could be that the British National Party has touched a raw nerve in the body of British and Irish politics. It is reckoned that the B.N.P. could obtain a vote of 22% in a British election. This issue has to do with a wide spread concern in working class areas due to an influx of new wave immigrants into their midst. There are those in Belfast and Derry who have been out protesting about the racism of the B.N.P. Such protestors should look at racism on their own Ulster doorstep first.
Is such fear of new wave immigration real or imaginary? The reality of the concern can be paralleled at home in Irish history. In the 16th century a people of different race, culture, religion and language came to Ireland in the plantation of Ulster. The whirlwind of this was reaped in the 20th century in a partitioned island, over 30 years of intercommunal (racist) violence and in the racist sectarian ghettoes of Belfast and Derry and elsewhere. This is the historic fruit of introducing an immigrant population into a country. But Irish history has another parallel. The Normans came to Ireland uninvited and settled here but in that case all was well in the long term because the Normans integrated with the native Irish and became “more Irish than the Irish themselves” This immigration was to the benefit of Ireland.
If the new wave immigrants to G.B. and Ireland become as British as the British themselves and as Irish as the Irish themselves then the migration will be of benefit to all. It would seem that the majority of new wave immigrants see themselves in that way. If however there are some who wish to live apart and separate from the indigenous people, as the Ulster planters opted to do, for the future health of these islands such people should be excluded.
Michael Gillespie. Derry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
